Chapter 4

Only after getting into the elevator did she notice that her shoes were completely soaked. Only then did she feel the dampness in her feet.

Not wanting to show them to him, she stepped back one pace. Wriggling her blameless toes, she only stared at the elevator numbers.

“Get in.”

As soon as they reached the underground parking lot, he opened the visible car door and gestured with his eyes. She stole a glance at him, then got into the car. She watched him through the side mirror as he opened the trunk, but she could not see what he was doing.

At the sound of the trunk closing, she merely fidgeted with her phone. Thankfully, it had not broken.

She was about to put it back into her wet bag, but feeling uneasy about that, she placed it on her knees instead.

Bang.

At the sound of the door opening, Soyoon turned her head. It was not the driver’s side door opening, but the door to her seat.

“Wh, what are you doing…!”

“You’re soaked.”

It felt unreal, him crouching down on the ground. She shook her leg in resistance as he grabbed her ankle and took off her shoe, but all that happened was that more strength entered his hand. She could not move at all.

“Put this on.”

Because he was putting slippers on her feet, she bit her lip.

“It’s okay. When I get home……”

“Give me your foot.”

When he asked for the other foot, she shook her head and tried to hide it, and his eyebrow twitched.

He suddenly reached out, grabbed her other ankle, and her sneaker came right off. At that moment, her bruised big toenail showed. Not long ago, after washing up and coming out, she had stubbed her foot on a high threshold.

She was so embarrassed. Soyoon’s face turned red.

As though he had seen nothing at all, he slipped the slipper onto her foot. And very carefully at that. Then he, who had been crouching, stood up and closed the door.

She looked down at her feet. They were truly ugly feet. Just thinking that he had seen all of it made her want to disappear on the spot.

“Put on your seat belt.”

Like a child obediently listening to his words telling her to fasten it, she immediately put on the seat belt. Otherwise, it felt like he might fasten it for her. For some reason, it seemed as though his gaze was directed at her chest, but it must have been her imagination.

When she looked at him, he was staring at the steering wheel.

“Put in your home address.”

“……You can just drop me off in front of Hannam Station.”

She stole glances at him as he drove without saying anything, then turned her head toward the window. The rain was still pouring down. As she looked at the rain falling so hard that she could barely see ahead, Soyoon rubbed her leg.

“What’s with your leg? Does it hurt?”

“No. I ran around in the rain earlier, so……”

“Your habits haven’t changed. How old are you, running around in the rain? Even if Seohyeon was the one suggesting it, you should have stopped her.”

As though he knew that Seohyeon had been the one to suggest it first, there was a slight edge in his voice.

At how unchanged he seemed from before, her nose stung for no reason, and she rested her forehead against the window.

Because he did not even turn on music, only the sound of rain could be heard in the quiet car. Perhaps because of the rain, it felt as though only the two of them were left in this world.

“…Have you been well?”

Only after twenty minutes had passed since they met did he finally ask how she had been.

In the voice asking whether she had been doing well these six years, Soyoon pulled up the corners of her mouth with all the strength she had. The edge of her lips trembled.

“I’ve been well.”

She could not bring herself to ask after him. Even without asking, she could feel that he had been living well.

Unable to look at him anymore, she closed her eyes. As though she did not want to exchange a single word more.

A little later, Soyoon opened her eyes.

“Did I fall asleep? You should have woken me.”

When she checked the time, it seemed she had slept for a good thirty minutes. And on top of that, although she had asked to be let off at Hannam Station, the car was stopped in her own neighborhood.

“How did you know where my house was?”

“When I asked while you were half-asleep, you told me. Aren’t you too tired?”

She could not believe it, but she did not have the strength to argue either. Part of it was that the effects of the alcohol still remained, so she could not think too deeply.

Looking outside, the rain seemed to have stopped for the moment. Only one or two drops were falling.

“Thank you for taking me ho……”

“Give me your number.”

“What?”

Cutting her off, he demanded her number as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

At first, Soyoon thought she had misheard. She remembered that when she had first gotten a cellphone, she had asked him for his number and been refused. There had been a time like that, and now he was asking for hers first.

She could not believe it.

“I gave you a ride, so you should at least buy me a cup of coffee.”

“…Then right now,”

“No. It’s too late today. Buy it for me next time.”

Soyoon’s brow drew together.

She did not want to meet him again. Because of meeting him today, how much harder would things become for her again? She did not even have the strength left to like someone anymore.

She was too exhausted.

But at the same time, she did not have the confidence to refuse a man who had brought her all the way to her house. So she just recited some random number.

At the sight of him putting his phone to his ear, Soyoon covered her mouth. To think he would actually call it on the spot.

“Ah, I dialed the wrong number. Sorry for calling so late.”

He hung up on the person who had answered and narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. Feeling guilty, Soyoon’s eyes darted around.

“What was that?”

“I didn’t think you’d actually call it.”

She had meant to say it calmly. But whether it had sounded calm to him too was another matter.

At her reply, he laughed as if dumbfounded.

“Your number.”

In the end, she had no choice but to tell him. Only after confirming that her phone, which rested on her knees, began to ring did he finally give a small, satisfied smile.

Soyoon, who had seen that smile before, turned her eyes away. She knew very well that the smile was not directed at her. Because of that, she had cried a lot too.

“I should get going now. Thank you for today. Please drive safely.”

“If you’re thankful, buy me a cup of coffee. Definitely.”

It was strange how uncharacteristically persistent he was being. Even so, he was probably only being nice as Seohyeon’s friend.

“You have a persistent side to you.”

Had his personality changed as much as time had passed? Then again, her own confident self from before had disappeared too.

He had been good at everything, so her parents used to envy him tremendously. They used to say that if they had a son like him, they would feel full even without eating.

As the memory rose of her father ruffling her hair and saying he understood why she liked Cha Do-ha, a corner of her chest gave a painful throb.

“I can be persistent. Quite.”

She did not want to say anything at all to the man who answered so confidently, as if asking whether she had not known that.

Today was a small deviation. She, who lived without getting close to anyone, had met Seohyeon, whom she had wanted so badly to avoid, had played in the past, and had even run into Cha Do-ha.

This was enough. As soon as the blue gate halfway up the steep stairs came into view, she felt that it was time to return to reality now. Soyoon’s face turned cold.

“I’m really going now.”

Keeping her manners with the silent man, she bowed her head and opened the car door. In her hands were her completely soaked bag and sneakers.

“Take this with you.”

She had thought the raindrops that had been falling one by one had stopped. But he had come behind her and was holding an umbrella over her.

“It’s right in front of us, so I’ll be there in a moment.”

“Take it. Give it back to me next time we meet.”

“…Okay.”

He gave off the feeling that if she said no, he would escort her all the way to the gate, so she simply accepted the umbrella. His hand brushed hers slightly, but she did not show that it startled her.

She climbed the stairs looking only ahead. Then, when she reached the front of the house, she suddenly turned back.

She looked at him still standing exactly where he was, then bent at the waist in greeting. It seemed as though he intended to stand there until she went inside, because he did not move at all, like a man whose feet had taken root in the ground.

…It was good to see you. Even though we met so suddenly.

Now she had to escape from the past and return to reality. Creak- She opened the old gate that sent chills down her spine no matter how many times she heard it.